High school footabll: Barnes scores 5 TDs in Warriors 48-12 win over Comets

CARTHAGE  Cory Marsell has had some versatile athletes run his option attack with great success over the years.

But perhaps the current signal-caller, junior Denzel Barnes, is the perfect fit for an offense that relies on the quarterback making the right reads and the right decisions in a quick-strike fashion.

Barnes was never better at the controls than Friday night in the Warriors Section 3 Class A National showdown with unbeaten and state-ranked Carthage.

All he did was direct the Indian River attack to 368 rushing yards, including 138 on 22 carries by himself, and score five touchdowns during an unexpected 48-12 rout.

Indian River (5-1 overall, 4-0 conference) took over the division lead and can win the title outright with a win on Friday at New Hartford.

The Carthage defense, which had allowed only 30 points in the first four conference games, was all but helpless to stop the Indian River ground game.

The Warriors physically handled the Comets at the line of scrimmage all night. Indian River averaged nearly seven yards per rush, and three other backs gained at least 60 yards.

That physical dominance, said Barnes, was the main reason the Warriors offense was so productive.

The line has really been working hard, and tonight they just took over, said Barnes, who scored on first quarter runs of 1 and 6 yards to get the Warriors off to a quick 14-0 start. I think weve been making pretty good progress this year. But tonight, we took a huge step forward.

Barnes added a 20-yard scoring run in the second quarter, an 8-yarder in the third and a 2-yarder in the fourth to cap off the Indian River scoring.

Marsell said Barnes is a perfect blend of quickness and ability, and has made the conversion from wingback look easy.

Hes got that running back mentality when hes running, Marsell said. But hes been making the reads a lot quicker the last few weeks, and really looks a lot more comfortable than he did at the beginning of the season.